Psalm 21 – Victory is Yahweh’s gift/David’s shameful behaviour is misrepresented

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. (Psalm 119:105)

Psalm 21 (NIV)

1 O LORD, the king rejoices in your strength.
		How great is his joy in the victories you give!
2 You have granted him the desire of his heart
		and have not withheld the request of his lips.		Selah
3 You welcomed him with rich blessings
		and placed a crown of pure gold on his head.
4 He asked you for life, and you gave it to him –
		length of days, for ever and ever.
5 Through the victories you gave, his glory is great;
                you have bestowed on him splendour and majesty.
6 Surely you have granted him eternal blessings
                and made him glad with the joy of your presence.
7 For the king trusts in the LORD;
		through the unfailing love of the Most High 
                he will not be shaken.

8 Your hand will lay hold on all your enemies;
		your right hand will seize your foes.
9 At the time of your appearing
		you will make them like a fiery furnace.
  In his wrath the LORD will swallow them up,
		and his fire will consume them.
10 You will destroy their descendants from the earth,
		their posterity from mankind.
11 Though they plot evil against you
		and devise wicked schemes, they cannot succeed;
12 for you will make them turn their backs
		when you aim at them with drawn bow.

13 Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength;
		we will sing and praise your might.

Notes

1. Verses 1-7 of Psalm 21 in the NIV layout are addressed to Yahweh by a great admirer of David who describes his victories and honours effusively and appreciatively and acknowledges they are gifts of Yahweh.

2. It ends with an assertion of the king’s trust and commitment and a declaration that ‘he will not be shaken’ because he ‘trusts in the LORD’ (7). We know that is his only security. None of us can depend on our own ability to remain faithful. However, is there a hint of boastfulness here, for who can ever guarantee that? None of us know how life will turn out or what pressures and troubles we will experience. Is the psalmist overly focussed on Yahweh’s blessings? Does he think David is now exempt from temptation? We need to live in faith – trusting in Yahweh’s grace and provision but equally we need to live in doubt – in our own resources and abilities.

3. David’s victories (1, 5) led the writer to believe that David would continue to be a successful warrior so would see the ruthless annihilation of his enemies (9, 10). Verses 8-12 appear initially to be addressed to Yahweh as if Yahweh were responsible but the description of the enemy’s destruction seems more appropriately assigned to David’s activities. This is supported by verse 9b, where Yahweh is referred to in the third person and in the imagery of verse 12.

4. The overall impression is that the psalmist blurs David’s battle successes with Yahweh’s intentions without explanation but giving an impression that his treatment of his enemies had Yahweh’s approval. Such ruthlessness appears to be in keeping with Deuteronomy 7:1-26 and 9:1-6, but what about Yahweh’s promise to Abram (as he was then),

‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. ‘I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.’ (Genesis 12:1-3)?

Some years later, Yahweh repeated his promise,

‘Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of Yahweh by doing what is right and just, so that Yahweh will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him’ (Genesis 18:18-19).

5. Those promises were never rescinded. Of course, they were ultimately fulfilled at the coming of Jesus but surely Yahweh intended his people, including David, to fulfil, or at least attempt to fulfil, those promises generation after generation.

6. The final verse (13) is a one line acknowledgment praising Yahweh for his strength. This parallels verse 1 so brings the psalm to a neat conclusion.

7. Further insights from studying the Hebrew poetic structure throw more light on how to understand the psalm.

8. As usual in these studies ‘LORD’ becomes Yahweh as was originally intended (Exodus 3:15) and the stanzas and strophes are reset in what appears to be the format the psalmist intended.

9. Unusually, the psalm appears to display two distinct and contrasting themes. The first seems to be what the psalmist intended. It is centred on Yahweh’s gifts to King David, of military success, fame and economic prosperity but features triumphalism and aggressive nationalism that sits uncomfortably with a godly perspective of life. The second theme enables the psalm to be interpreted in the light of the overall teachings of the Bible so is in keeping with Yahweh’s revelations of himself throughout the OT (see, for example, Deuteronomy 30:1-10, Hosea 11:1-11) and then most plainly in the NT revelations in Jesus (see, for example, Romans 3:9-31, Ephesians 2:1-22). The alternative theme is about King David’s misrepresentation of what Yahweh expected of him so the psalm exhibits King David’s pride, self-centredness and ruthless cruelty. Perhaps, even worse than that, he implies that all he does has Yahweh’s approval.

10. The psalm has a chiastic structure but the two parts have different themes so are shown as separate stanzas with parallelisms between the one-line strophes.

11. The parallel noted between the first and last lines of the psalm is another reason for looking for a chiastic structure and that is confirmed by further analysis.

Psalm 21

Victory is Yahweh’s gift alternatively David’s shameful behaviour is misrepresented

12. Stanza 1 describes how Yahweh had favoured, guided, blessed and helped David, the king, so he was victorious over enemy forces from neighbouring nations. He responds with trust and vows unending commitment (strophe X).

13. Stanza 2 parallels this with a description of how Yahweh destroys enemies. They are clearly David’s personal and national enemies but they are presented primarily as enemies of Yahweh.

14. The title says it is ‘A Psalm of David’ and it is all about David so either David wrote it about himself in the third person or someone else wrote on his behalf. That someone knew him intimately – including his plans, feelings, aspirations and expectations – and appears to be a great admirer.

15. In strophes A-A1 the psalmist rejoices in and praises Yahweh for his strength – his power to be able to do whatever was needed.

16. Being granted ‘the desire of his heart’ in strophe B is matched in strophe B1 with a description of enemies turning to flee even before arrows are loosed. That is a wonderful bonus for a soldier, a heart’s desire, as it implies the battle is won without the stress and risks of a full-blown fight.

17. The success implied by ‘rich blessings’ and the award of a gold crown in strophe C contrasts with the enemies’ evil plans that ‘cannot succeed’ in strophe C1.

18. Cohen thinks this may be an allusion to 2 Samuel 12:30[1] but the incident referred to there happened after the Bathsheba affair. I think it likely that Psalm 21 relates to events earlier in David’s reign as discussed later.

19. Strophe D with the gift of a long and fruitful life and perhaps a hint about eternal life contrasts sharply with the destruction of the enemy and his family line in strophe D1.

20. Strophe E contrasts the king’s victories and rich spoils that enhance his status and splendour with the annihilation of his enemies in strophe E1 by Yahweh.

21. The hint of eternity in strophe D is confirmed in strophe F with joy, gladness and ‘eternal blessings’ in contrast to the appalling image of a ‘fiery furnace’ totally annihilating the enemies in strophe F1.

22. In the crux of the psalm in strophes X-X1 the king’s trust in Yahweh is declared to be the reason for the king’s security and safety (strophe X). That is contrasted in strophe X1 where the enemy can only anticipate loss of freedom and control as Yahweh seizes them.

23. This is a curiously joyful and triumphalistic psalm (stanza 1) combined with imagery of the most violent cruelty toward a defeated enemy (stanza 2) that nowadays would be classified as ethnic cleansing. (Ethnic cleansing is defined as the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, and religious groups from a given area, with the intention to make a region ethnically homogeneous. This may be by absorbing unwanted groups into the dominant group, banishing them or in the most extreme form by genocide, where the goal is the total destruction of the targeted group.) This seems to relate to the early years of David’s reign as it might have been seen to reflect Yahweh’s promise conveyed to David by Nathan (2 Samuel 7:8-11).

24. Yahweh’s promises were made unconditionally on that occasion but they need to be read in the light of the principles of kingship Samuel gave to the people when Saul became king (1 Samuel 12:24-25). These were confirmed when Saul failed in his allegiance to Yahweh (1 Samuel 13:13-14) and later on, when David failed as he had Uriah murdered after failing to conceal his affair with Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife (2 Samuel 12:9-12).

25. There is no mention of such conditions in this psalm and no suggestion David was aware of his own propensity to act rashly as is illustrated in his dealings with Nabal and Abigail (1 Samuel 25:32-34).

26. However, there is a hint of false confidence for the psalm makes much of Yahweh’s gifts of wealth, victories and David’s public acclaim (glory) and not on the giver. Then in strophe X it says, ‘he (David) will not be shaken;’ but that cannot be guaranteed for anyone as no one knows their future. David had to play his part in this covenant of blessing and, as it turned out, David did ‘shake’ in the sense of fail and fall as perhaps he took the blessings of Yahweh in his life for granted and allowed slackness and then temptation to take hold (2 Samuel 11:1-3).

27. Psalm 21 can be seen, therefore, as a misrepresentation of David’s true character and behaviour. ‘Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall’ (Proverbs 16:18) comes to mind.

28. Here is an illustration of the human propensity to take Yahweh’s blessings for granted and assume they are a ‘reward.’ It is more scriptural to see them as a ‘responsibility’ – a gift that needs to be used to further God’s kingdom and not for personal glory and status. Jesus teaching:

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked (Luke 12:48),

is an eternal truth so was as relevant to David as it is to us.

29. The way David conflates his enemies with Yahweh’s enemies is presented without any comment but is this a true expression of Yahweh’s character and plan? Rather, could David be imputing to Yahweh his own aggressive cruelty? The Bible does not always spell out such interpretations so we need to work it out from basic principles. A comparative situation was when Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel and ended up killing all the priests of Baal (1 Kings 18), though Yahweh never commanded this. Was Elijah acting outside Yahweh’s will? This suggestion is perhaps supported by Elijah’s sudden abandonment of the people whose faith in Yahweh had been dramatically restored, as he fled from Jezebel’s wrath in abject fear (1 Kings 19:1-3a).

30. Hosea 11 is a moving description of Yahweh’s attitude to his sinful, wayward people. He had every right to punish them but his compassion and loving kindness compels him to forgive and restore. And this is expressed even more clearly in the NT in texts such as John 3 :16 and Ephesians 2:1-10. One of the foundations of our faith as Christians is that Yahweh’s character is consistent, his attitude is unchanged throughout Scripture (Psalm 102:27, Hebrews 13:8).

31. It is interesting to compare Psalm 21 with Psalm 79 where roles are reversed. In Psalm 79 it is Yahweh’s people who are subjected to aggressive cruelty yet they are not annihilated or treated as ferociously as David seems to want to treat his enemies. Even worse, the psalmist imputes to Yahweh David’s own reprehensible behaviour. That cannot be right.

32. The compassion Psalm 79 seeks and expects to receive from Yahweh is not made available by David toward his enemies, yet he was said by Yahweh to be, ‘a man after my own heart’ (Acts 13:22, 1 Samuel 13:14) when he was chosen to be king.

33. Furthermore, there is no expression of shame or regret by David in this psalm and I have not yet discovered it elsewhere.

34. Psalms are not theological treatises so do not explore the full implications of a specific situation. They therefore, need to be interpreted in the light of the rest of Scripture and especially Yahweh’s revelation of his own character and plans for his creation.

35. I think therefore, that Psalm 21 expresses two distinctly different and contradictory themes. The first theme is, ‘Victory is Yahweh’s gift’ that is expressed in stanza 1 as, ‘Yahweh blesses the king with battle victories’ and in stanza 2 as, ‘Yahweh’s enemies will be annihilated.’ That it seems, is what David and his psalmist friend intended. As such it shows how far David had departed from Yahweh’s assessment of him as a young man (note 32).

36. The alternative theme reflects a response to how Yahweh’s character is expressed in Scripture. Sadly, the theme therefore becomes, ‘David’s shameful behaviour is misrepresented,’ so the theme of stanza 1 is, ‘The psalmist boasts of David’s wealth, grandeur and elevated status due to Yahweh’s favour’ and stanza 2’s is, ‘David assumes he can treat his enemies and their families with ruthless cruelty.’ Sadly he goes as far as to impute to Yahweh his own cruelty and vindictiveness and thereby besmirches the honour and character of Yahweh.

37. This is therefore another psalm (see Psalm 5, note 32 and Psalm 58, note 62) that illustrates how a text such as,

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17),

should be interpreted. This does not mean that every word of Scripture is an expression of how God wants us to behave. Psalm 21 is an example of how scripture has a role in ‘rebuking and correcting,’ but definitely not for, ‘training in righteousness.’

Endnote

[1] Rev. Dr. A. Cohen, The Psalms: Hebrew Text, English Translation and Commentary, (Chesham: The Soncino Press, 1945) p. 58.

Written: 13 September 2021

Published: 24 May 2023

Updated: 22 March 2024